Hitler Story Sets Off North Korea

North Korea’s police and security agency took the rare step Wednesday of issuing a statement to eviscerate a foreign report about dictator Kim Jong Un. But it’s not often that a foreign report suggests Mr. Kim is something of an Adolf Hitler fan.

New Focus International, a website dedicated to North Korea-related news, reported Monday that among the gifts Mr. Kim gave senior officials to mark his Jan. 8 birthday were copies of Hitler’s autobiography “Mein Kampf.” It cited an unnamed North Korean official in China, who said Mr. Kim called for them to study the rebuilding of Germany under Hitler following its defeat in World War I, as well as the role of sport in German unity.

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‘Hello, Adolf? I’m telling you, it’s just one thing after another.’

North Korea’s response came in a statement from the Ministry of People’s Security that attacked defectors from the North who provide information about the country. The statement said they acted under the direction of South Korea to produce the “fabricated” report about Hitler’s book.

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The ministry is “determined to take substantial measures to physically remove despicable human scum who are committing treasons [sic] at the instigation of the south Korean puppet authorities and the gangster-like U.S,” it said.

North Korea’s statement and its targeting of news from defectors come amid an increase in coverage of the country by specialist websites, some of which have sources inside the country.

New Focus International was founded by a former chief propagandist for Kim Jong Il who escaped the North in 2004. The site says it has access to high-level North Korean sources who pass on information as they travel overseas, as well as trusted sources in the China-North Korea border area.

Daily NK, another website staffed partly by North Korean defectors, is often cited by other media for news from within the country, while Sino-NK specializes in coverage of links between North Korea and China.

Another, NK News, has become a closely watched outlet for hard-to-get news about the country with a string of recent exclusives.

In its latest, on Tuesday, the site reported that Mr. Kim used a luxury yacht worth millions of dollars for a recent tour of the country’s east coast.